raising awareness for World Mental Health Day

Huge THANK YOU from the 2nd Annual 10/10 Event!

A HUGE thank you to all who supported our 2nd Annual 10/10 Event to raise awareness for World Mental Health Day every October 10th! I just want to thank everyone that donated or came out to show your love and appreciation of this great cause, we could not have done it without your support. Im grateful for every single contribution, no matter how small. It’s your participation that counts! And we had the most amazing volunteers that assisted in every step! THANK YOU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! These are the silent heroes who prioritized time to come together and provide solutions and hands-on help to make this event as big as it could be. I am extremely grateful for your kind hearts and ambitious ideas that made this event what it was.

Many of you were there for the first event and thanks to your continued support, 10/10 Event raised $8750 for CMHA National, the largest mental health association in the country. CMHA National reaches out to the federal government at political and bureaucratic levels to drive policy and advocate on issues relating to mental health. This is also the ultimate goal of the 10/10 Event, to make mental health a federal priority and see that 10 out of 10 people with mental health issues receives proper treatment. But, keeping in mind that larger organizations are sometimes less efficient than boots on the ground, we also made a small contribution to GiveBack Toronto, organized by Nila Picchi, who hit the streets and provided food and care packages to some of our homeless this Thanksgiving. Great job, Nila!

One of my favourite parts of the night was auctioning off the original art pieces that so many of you provided. Your labour of love was much appreciated by myself and all the bidders. It was truly a night to remember and I cannot wait to regroup in the beginning of 2018 to see how we can make the next event bigger and better! I cannot do this alone and I once again welcome volunteers, sponsors and donors to ensure that next year we break our previous recorded raised funds.

Whether or not you were able to make the event, you trusted our organization and offered your hard earned dollars to ensure that the 10/10 Event had a platform to impact lives in your communities and across our beloved Toronto. It might be hard to see how your $20, $100 and even $1000 donations will cause a ripple effect in the lives of people suffering and their families, but many people around me have already benefitted from increased awareness and opportunity, and the movement will only keep growing.

October 5th served as a reminder that as a community, we can achieve to help create a brighter future where rehabilitation is achievable and successful. A future where people have more options not to just cope, but to thrive!!